Reportedly, Ben Spies' Twitter account had a post yesterday which now has eyebrows fully raised in the MotoGP paddock.

Spies underwent surgery on both of his shoulders yesterday and is expected to be off the bike for an additional eight to ten weeks.

At one point, presumably before the surgery, Spies' Twitter account had a message which read Saw the doc today. not great. Off to surgery tomorrow! Bet Carlo is so excited he wont remember to wipe the powder off his nose.

Italian media translated this message to mean that Spies might be referencing Pramac Ducati exec Carlo Pernat in the message. In addition to having a management position at Pramac, Pernat manages several Italian riders including Andrea Iannone.

The post disappeared but not before many had screen-grabbed it.

In 2003, Anthony Gobert was forced out of the Austin Bleu Bayou Ducati team after he made derogatory statements about the team and the bike. The incident was then largely played off as a situation that "just wasn't working out" but it was learned later that the actual legal mechanics of him leaving the team were that Gobert's contract forbade him from criticizing the team. When he did, he was forced out.

Update: Spies' mother, Mary, said this morning that they were mystified as to the Tweet or if Spies had even posted it himself. She said he was still recovering from surgery, has been groggy at best, and was on pain medication before the surgery but was without his phone/Twitter app for much of it. She said that she knows Spies has at least six friends named "Carlo" and that if he did actually write and post the tweet, which she doubts, that he was not making reference to Carlo Pernat.